A/N: Well everyone, here's the last chapter of the Caged Canaries story. Hope you've enjoyed it so far cause it's time for the final battle. Have fun reading.

Caged Canaries Pt.5

When Ren finally regained consciousness, the first thing he saw was a blinding color of white. As his vision cleared up, he saw that he was in a long white hallway. Kirito and Yui were both coming to around the same time as him.

"Where are we?" Ren asked.

"I don't know." Yui said. "There's no mapping data available."

"Do you know where Asuna is at least?" Kirito asked.

Yui closed her eyes and concentrated. "Yes. She's close. Very close in fact." Yui sprang up to her feet and took off running. "This way!"

Ren and Kirito followed Yui's lead as the three of them ran through the halls of the mysterious place. Using Yui's abilities, she was able to create shortcuts and provide the quickest path for them as they headed towards where Yui sensed Asuna's data. Eventually, they made it outside, where a large collection of branches stretched out around them.

"This is supposed to be the top of the World Tree, isn't it? Then where's the floating city that was mentioned?" Ren questioned.

"The whole time this Grand Quest was a lie? Seriously?" Kirito felt his rage as a gamer building up inside him. "Just another thing to make these bastards pay for."

Ren nodded in agreement. The entire point of the game had been completing the coveted Grand Quest. Players had been fighting and competing, trying their hardest to make it up here. And the entire thing was a lie. Any gamer would be outraged at such an atrocity.

But there was something more important for them to do at the moment. Ren looked around through the branches to spot the birdcage from the picture they had seen before. He soon caught sight of it in the distance and pointed towards it. "Look, there it is!"

Kirito and Yui gasped as they saw the birdcage. All three of them took off running as fast as they could to reach it. For Kirito, Asuna was supposed to be in there. Reaching her was the only thing on his mind at the moment. For Ren however, he could only hope that Asuna would be able to lead them to Alice.

'Asuna.'

'Alice.'

It seemed like an eternity passed as they slowly got closer to the birdcage. The path zigged and zagged to the point that it almost frustrated them. But Ren and Kirito finally reached the birdcage. As Kirito and Yui walked up to the door to the cage, they saw her in there. The chestnut haired girl that they had worked so hard to find. Her back was to the door and her head was down. When Ren looked inside, he noticed something that made him gasp.

Asuna wasn't alone.

Sitting in the cage with her was a teenage girl with long black hair. She was dressed in torn robes and seemed to be in the same emotional state that Asuna was in. But even with her back to him, Ren recognized the person immediately. It was the one he had come so far to see. It was the one that his friends had sacrificed so much to help him find. It was Alice.

"Mama." Yui said.

Yui's voice got an immediate reaction from both Asuna and Alice. The two girls turned their heads and saw the trio standing at the door to the cage. Asuna brought both of her hands to her mouth to cover her gasp as tears welled up in her eyes. "Yui…"

"Mama!" Yui cried as she deleted the door to the cage and ran inside, throwing herself into her mother's arms. "Mama… I missed you."

Asuna held her daughter in a tight embrace. "I missed you too, Yui."

Kirito walked up and joined in on the hug with Asuna and Yui. As touching of a moment as it was, Alice's attention wasn't focussed on the family of three right next to her. She was entirely focussed on the boy standing at the door to the cage. He looked slightly different, most notably the violet hair, but she could still tell who it was.

"Ren…"

"Alice…" Ren said, hardly able to believe it was really her. They both began to walk towards each other, but soon broke out into a full run as they came together and embraced each other in a tight grasp.

Tears formed in Alice's eyes as she hugged Ren. "It's really you. I thought I'd never see you again."

"I'm sorry I made you wait." Ren said, his own eyes getting a little watery as well. "But I'm here now. And I'm never letting you go again."

It was silent as the two couples stayed trapped in the embrace of their significant other, not wanting to let go. But they knew that they had to end at some point and get the girls out of there.

"Yui, can you log Asuna and Alice out from here?" Kirito asked.

"No." Yui said with a shake of her head. "Their accounts are locked with complicated codes. I need a system console to log either of them out."

Asuna's eyes flashed. "There was one in the lab. I f we hurry, we can-"

Before Asuna could finish, an sudden ominous feeling polluted the air. Ren and Kirito instinctively reached for their swords, but before they could grab them a large shift in gravity forced them all to their knees.

Ren grunted as he struggled to stand back up. "What the hell… What's happening?"

Kirito looked over towards his daughter. "Yui, do you know what's going on?"

Yui suddenly felt an electric current run through her body, causing her pain. "Mama… Papa… be careful. Something bad's coming."

"Yui!" Asuna gasped as her daughter vanished into thin air. The gravity began to get stronger and stronger, up to the point that all of them couldn't even kneel and were forced to lay down on the ground. The scenery around them shifted and changed to an empty back space.

"Well, well, well." a voice suddenly spoke as the sound of footsteps were heard. "What do we have here?"

Asuna and Alice both widened their eyes in terror when they heard the voice. Both of them knew who it was. Kirito grunted as he weakly turned his head towards the new arrival. "No way… Sugou?"

Sugou smirked as he looked down at the four players in his presence. "Tsk, tsk, I'd prefer it if you refered to me differently in this world. You can call me his highness, the fairy king Oberon." Sugou delivered a kick to Kirito's face. Unable to defend himself, Kirito took the painful hit in full.

"Kirito!" Asuna exclaimed.

Sugou paid no mind to Asuna as he focussed all of his attention on Kirito and Ren. "I must say, this is a surprise. Not just one, but two insects managed to buzz their way up here. Would you mind telling me how you did that?"

"We flew with our wings."

Sugou seemed amused by Kirito's response. "If you won't tell me, I guess I'll just have to ask your minds directly later. You and your friend over there." Sugou looked at Ren and narrowed his eyes. "Hang on. Haven't I seen you before? Where was it… ah, of course! You're the boy that's head over heels for my queen's servant here."

"Don't you dare talk to Alice like she's some servant, you bastard." Ren snarled as he tried to get to his feet.

A chuckle escaped Sugou as he looked at Ren. "Tough talk for such a pathetic insect. Tell me, what exactly will you do if I call that worthless girl a servant again?"

Ren growled in frustration. His entire body was screaming for him to strangle him right there, but the gravity forcing down on him was too strong.

"Exactly. There's nothing you can do. I swear, kids these days have no common sense." Sugou grinned. "But don't worry. You and that girl can have all the time you want together. You're about to be part of my little test run."

With a snap of his fingers, Ren and Alice were both teleported away and vanished without a trace. Kirito and Asuna gasped as their friends disappeared.

"What did you do with them?" Asuna glared.

Sugou smirked as he stared down at Asuna. "Oh, I just sent them someplace to test how well my research is coming along."

When Ren could finally see again, he found himself and Alice in another dark empty space, similar to the one they had been in just seconds before. Alice was with him, but Kirito, Asuna, and Sugou were nowhere to be seen. The gravity was still in effect though and weighing down both of them.

"Alice… are you alright?" Ren asked weakly.

"My body feels like a pile of bricks, but other than that I'm fine." Alice said.

Suddenly two chuckling voices spoke up. "Well isn't that sweet."

Alice gasped as she turned her head and saw the two scientists that had prevented her and Asuna from escaping earlier. They didn't look like slugs anymore though. This time, they had a much more human appearance, other than the fairy characteristics that she and Ren both had.

"Let me guess. Sugou's lackeys?" Ren questioned.

The response Ren got was a stomp to the face from one of the scientists. The boot pressed down on Ren's cheek and it did not feel pleasant. "How rude. You should learn your place kid."

"Leave him alone!" Alice shouted.

The other scientist walked over to Alice. "Oh don't worry. We haven't forgotten about you." He grabbed Alice's face and cradled it in his hand. "I don't know about you, but I remember the time we spent together VERY well. Are you interested in another round?"

"Get your hands off her!" Ren yelled. He struggled to get up, but could only find the strength to push his body a few inches off the ground. "If you touch her so help me I'll-"

"Do us a favor and keep quiet, brat." Ren was cut off as he felt the force of a boot press his head against the ground once again. "But if you really want her all to yourself, then feel free. Although I don't know if she'll have the same idea of a good time as you."

Before Ren could ask what he meant by that, the sound of Alice screaming brought his attention to her. She held her head as she trembled in pain. The two scientists walked away. As one of them snapped his fingers, the heavy gravity suddenly lifted. Ren took off running towards Alice.

"Alice!"

"Ren…" Alice muttered as she held her head. "My head… I don't know what's going on."

"Alice, can you hear me? What's wrong?" Ren asked. He glared over at the scientists. "What did you do?!"

"Oh, nothing much. Just watch and see." one of them smirked.

Suddenly, Ren felt a hand grip around his throat. His eyes widened in shock as he saw the one the grip belonged to was Alice. "Alice… what are you… doing…?"

Looking into her eyes, Ren saw no signs of emotion. Her expression was completely hollow. She rose to her feet, lifting Ren into the air with her hand still around his throat.

"I have a fun idea." one of the scientists said. "System command! Change pain absorber from level 10 to level 6."

All of a sudden, Ren could feel the choking feeling of Alice's grip a lot more. It hurt a lot more too. "Alice… you have to stop… fight it…"

"Don't bother. She can't hear you. We had an opportunity to do some special tinkering in her head earlier. Now she's completely under our control."

Ren gasped at what he heard. "What… how…?"

"It's quite simple really. By sending certain impulses to specific regions of the brain, it becomes possible to influence a person's thoughts and emotions. Right now, when looking at you, all she can feel is a desire to destroy."

"Bastards… when I get my hands on you-"

The sound of laughing cut Ren off. "Keep dreaming kid. As if you could even touch us right now."

The other one's lips curved into a smirk. "But even though you can't touch us, we plan on using our hands all over that girl later. It'll be so much fun to explore her body again. Maybe we'll be able to make it so she feels even more terrified than last time. Hahahaha!"

So much of what Sugou's men said enraged Ren. Them treating him like he was powerless and they were kings. The statement of them touching Alice, and treating her like some doll for them to play with was another thing that had his blood boiling. But what tipped Ren over the edge was one simple word that they had said.

Again. Meaning they had already done it to her once before.

Ren's mind screamed on the inside, cursing himself out for not being able to protect Alice. But he was going to be damned if he let her go through something like that again. And once Ren was able to, he would make Sugou's men pay a thousand times over for what they did.

Alice released her grip on Ren and dropped him onto the ground. As Ren gasped for air, he saw Alice hold out her arm. Soon enough, a scythe materialized in it.

"Nice touch, isn't it? We went through her memories and saw that this was her weapon of choice. And now she'll get to use it to cut you down."

Ren rolled out of the way as Alice swung her scythe down at him. He pulled out his sword as Alice lunged at him and blocked an attack from her. "Alice, snap out of it!"

Alice didn't show any visible response to Ren's plea as she attacked him once again. Ren jumped back, but the curved blade of Alice's scythe still managed to leave a small cut on Ren's right arm. It stung painfully, most likely due to the lowered pain absorber. Ren didn't even want to imagine what it would feel like if she got a clean slash at him and severed a limb.

Ren growled in frustration. He couldn't attack Alice in this situation. Not only did he refuse to hurt her, he had no idea what kind of effects there would be on her since she had the Nerve Gear still on. This wasn't SAO, but for all Ren knew she could very well die IRL if he killed her in here.

Knowing he had to do something, Ren lunged at Alice. He grabbed her arms and stared into her eyes. "Don't you want to go back Alice?! Everyone's worried about you! What about Riku?! What about Helios and Dagger?!" He cried out in pain as Alice swung her curved blade at Ren, impaling him with it. "What about Mai?!"

At the mention of Mai, Ren noticed a small reaction from Alice, but it quickly faded away. Ren used the brief opportunity to free himself from the sharp stinging blade of Alice's scythe currently impaled into his stomach. The excruciating pain caused Ren to fall down on one knee. Alice swung her leg and delivered a kick that sent Ren skidding across the ground.

Ren weakly managed to get back up on one knee. He looked at Alice, who still wore that hollow expression on her face. "Alice... please... you have to wake up..."

Alice made no response. She simply walked towards Ren with her scythe in hand. Ren could see that Sugou's men still had her under control. Nothing seemed to be able to get the black haired girl to snap out of the trance she was in.

"Alice wake up!"

"I will complete my mission." Alice simply said. "I will follow all orders given to me."

Ren curled his hand into a fist and slammed it into the ground. He couldn't let it end like this. Alice was right in front of him, yet her mind couldn't be further away from his grasp. He could see the smirks of Sugou's men in the corner of his eye. The grins on their faces pissed him off to no end. 'They think they can toy with people's minds however they want. Well let's see just how true that is.' Ren grabbed his sword that laid on the ground and got to his feet. 'It's all or nothing. Please let this work.'

"Alright then, Alice. If you won't wake up, then I have no choice." Ren said. He kicked off the ground and ran towards Alice.

As soon as Ren started charging at her, Alice took off running as well. She gripped her scythe and prepared to finish her target off. One slash would be enough to finish him off for good. Ren ran and got ready to attack with his own slash. As Alice prepared to swing her weapon at him, her eyes widened as Ren dropped his sword mid-attack. He gripped the handle of Alice's scythe, positioning the curved blade at his neck. Both he and Alice stood frozen still.

"Go ahead Alice. Do it." Ren said. His voice was dead serious. "If there's really no trace left of you in there, then cut me down here and now."

Alice stood frozen. She couldn't process what was going on. Her body trembled, not knowing what to do. It was one simple motion. Pull the scythe back and her mission would be complete. But for some reason, she couldn't do it. It was like her mind was at war with her body.

"You have to fight it, Alice." Ren told her. "You can beat this. I know you can."

From the distance, Sugou's men watched as Alice hesitated to take out her opponent. "What are you waiting for, you stupid girl?! Do it!"

For what seemed like an eternity, Alice and Ren stood still with the scythe only a hair's breath away from Ren's neck. Finally Ren saw a hint of emotion come back to Alice's face as tears began to roll down her eyes. Then she finally spoke.

"Ren... help me..."

Ren showed Alice a reassuring smile. "You can do this. They don't have any control over you."

Alice's hands continued to tremble. Her grip on the scythe slowly began to weaken until the weapon finally fell out of her hands and landed on the ground. The hollow look in Alice's eyes vanished and she began to fall back. Before she hit the ground though, Ren caught her in his arms.

Alice sobbed as the brainwashing finally began to fade. "Ren..."

"Shh, it's alright Alice. I'm right here." Ren told her in a soothing voice as he hugged her.

Alice began to regain control of her body and wrapped her arms around Ren. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. None of this is your fault." Ren assured her. The couple stayed kneeling on the ground, holding each other in their arms. After a few seconds, Ren heard the surprised voices of Sugou's men staring at them. Ren let go of Alice and grabbed his sword from the ground, getting to his feet.

"Ren...?"

"Don't worry Alice. I'll be right back." Ren said. He held his sword in a tight grip as rage flashed in his eyes. "This'll only take a second."

The two scientists widened their eyes in fear as Ren slowly walked towards them with a murderous glare in his eyes. "Q-Quick! Do something!"

"R-Right!" the other one said. He raised his arm to swipe and open the menu, but Ren raced past him like a blur, cutting off his arm with one slash. He cried in pain as he felt the pain coming from where his arm had been just seconds ago. "Aaaauuugghh!"

"Too bad the pain absorber is only at level 6 right now." Ren said, turning back around towards the two scientists. "If I had my way, it would be at zero."

The two of them didn't dare turn around to face the enraged player. The one of Sugou's men that had just lost an arm to Ren quickly shouted out into the air. "System command! Generate-"

Ren didn't give him time to finish as he thrusted his sword forward, piercing through his head. The only sound that came from the scientist was an intangible scream that Ren could only assume was a cry of pain. "Sounds like that hurts quite a lot. Then allow me to give you something else to scream about." Ren pulled the sword out of his head and finished him off with a swift downwards slash, severing him in two and making him dissolve into dust.

The remaining lackey of Sugou's trembled in fear as he watched his partner vanish without a trace. He slowly turned his head towards Ren, seeing that the rage in his eyes hadn't subsided. "P-Please! Have mercy! I beg of you!"

The pitiful begging coming from the man only made Ren hate him even more. He readied his sword for another slash. "Did you have mercy when you took three hundred people and held them prisoner?" With a swift thrust, he pierced the man's chest with the blade. "Did you have mercy when you experimented on them and treated them like lab rats?" Ren then swung the already impaled blade sideways, leaving a long red gash on the man. He cried out in agony as he brought his hand to the gash. Ren positioned his blade for one final strike. "Did you have mercy when you put your disgusting hands on Alice and made her suffer?!"

Ren's blade slashed through the man's avatar, ripping him in half and making him dissolve away like his partner before him. With the two of them dealt with, Ren sheathed the sword onto his back and walked back over to Alice. He kneeled down and hugged her. As Alice hugged Ren back, she noticed a tear roll down his cheek.

"It's alright Ren. I'm safe now. Thanks to you."

"You're really here right? This is you? I'm not dreaming?" Ren asked as more tears formed in his eyes.

Alice touched Ren's cheek and wiped the tears from his eyes. She looked at him with a heartwarming smile. "It's really me Ren. And if you still don't believe me…" Alice leaned in and planted her lips against his, giving him a soft kiss. "I think that will convince you."

Ren's lips curved into a smile as he continued to hold Alice. "I missed you so much. I was scared I'd never see you again."

"Well you don't have to worry about that anymore. I'm here. And I'll always be here for you. Cause you're the only one for me."

As Ren and Alice stayed together, a portal suddenly opened up. Through it, Kirito walked into the space. The sight of their friend made Ren and Alice quickly separate.

Kirito scratched his head nervously. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Don't worry about it." Ren said with a shake of his head, trying to relieve the awkward moment. "What about Asuna? Is she safe? Where's Sugou?"

"Sugou's taken care of, and I just managed to log Asuna out a few moments before I came to you guys." Kirito explained. "I've got full GM access now, so I can log Alice out too."

"GM access?!" Alice exclaimed. "How'd you pull that off?!"

Kirito rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Anyhow, I think it's time we get you back to the real world."

Alice nodded her head. "I'd appreciate that, thanks." She turned her head towards Ren. "Make sure to come visit me soon, ok? I want to see you as soon as possible."

"I'll head there as soon as I log out." Ren told her.

Alice nodded her head. "I'll be waiting."

Kirito shuffled through his GM menu and logged Alice out. Her avatar began to disintegrate and soon she was gone. He then pressed a few more tabs and the black space around them disappeared, returning them to the cage that Asuna and Alice had been in.

Ren let out a relieved sigh and got to his feet. "Thanks Kirito. I never would have been able to save Alice if it wasn't for you."

"You don't need to thank me." Kirito told him with a shake of his head. "I never would have even made it here without you and the rest of your guild. If anything, I should be the one thanking you."

Ren smiled and looked out at the vast sky stretching outside of the cage. "It's finally over. We really did it."

Kirito nodded his head. "Yeah. We did." He looked at his friend and smiled. "Well we should probably log out now. Don't want to keep the girls waiting."

"Yeah." Ren nodded. "Tell Asuna I said hi."

"I'll be sure to do that. You do the same for me with Alice."

Ren and Kirito both opened their menus and hit the logout tab. The two of them vanished in a flash of light as both of their visions went white.

Almost immediately after logging out of ALO, Ren sped out of the house, grabbed his bicycle, and took off towards the hospital. With how late it was, his sister and mother were probably already asleep, and he didn't want to wake them. Not to mention the fact that he'd have way too much to explain if he did. He left a note, saying where he was going so they wouldn't worry about him when they noticed he was gone.

Ren had also sent a text to his friends, telling them the good news. Mai sent a reply almost instantly, telling him that she was on her way to the hospital as well.

It was a long trip to the hospital by bike, and the cold snow falling from the sky didn't help things either. But for Ren, every second felt like an hour as he made his way there. The only thing on his mind right now was Alice.

When he finally arrived at his destination, Ren didn't even bother locking his bike up. He let it fall against the gate as he ran inside. Once inside, Ren forced himself to walk towards Alice's room. It wouldn't help his situation if he got kicked out by security before he could see Alice. The walk up two floors and down the hall to Alice's room felt like it was as long as his trip to the hospital. But finally he was there.

Ren took a deep breath as he walked inside. In the room, sitting up on her bed was the person he had worked so hard to save. The person that he had spent two months waiting to wake up. The person he loved more than anything else in the world.

"Alice."

The girl looked at Ren and smiled. A tear began to roll down her cheek as she saw him. "Ren."

Ren walked up to the bed and sat on the edge. The couple leaned in and held each other in a loving embrace.

"Welcome back, Alice." Ren said.

"It's good to be home, Ren." Alice replied. She brought her face up to his and planted a kiss on his lips.

In Ren's mind, that one moment had made all the fighting up till now worth it.

A/N: Well that's the Caged Canaries story everyone. I hope you liked the nice little romance for Ren and Alice at the end. Also, to help commemorate this chapter, I will be changing the cover for this story. The picture is a commission I recently had done on deviantart. I'm sure that all of you that have been reading I Will Not Bow Again will know what moment it's from.

The next story probably won't take as long as this one, because it'll be a one chapter thing. Hopefully I'll be able to get it out within a month, possibly sooner. Until then readers.

Next Time: A Wedding to Remember